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Sports | Hockey

FOOTBALL

Wrestler turned football walk-on makes key plays

Sophomore linebacker Kyler Elsworth was recruited for wrestling, but turned down his scholarship to try out for the MSU football team. Now in his second year on the field, Elsworth has gone from being a walk-on to being a key player against Wisconsin — blocking a punt that was recovered for a touchdown for the Spartans before halftime in their 37-31 victory.

VOLLEYBALL

Spartans following similar path as 2007 team

The 2007 MSU volleyball team went largely unnoticed throughout the regular season. Ignored by the coaches poll, the Spartans quietly accumulated a 19-13 regular season record (10-10 Big Ten), earning an NCAA Tournament berth behind the leadership of two senior outside hitters, Katie Johnson and Ashley Schatzle. Both girls racked up more than 500 kills that year while Schatzle earned All-American honors and Johnson was in the discussion.

ICE HOCKEY

Hockey embraces time off

With more than a week before the MSU hockey team sees game action, a break is being welcomed with open arms. After receiving an outpouring of offense in a sweep against Robert Morris at Munn Ice Arena during the past weekend, the Spartans have time to catch their breath before turning their sights to Western Michigan (Nov.

FOOTBALL

Big Ten mobile tour to hit East Lansing

This week, the Big Ten’s “Honoring Legends. Building Leaders.” tour will be in East Lansing from Thursday to Saturday for the No. 15 MSU football team’s game against Minnesota (noon, Big Ten Network).

BASKETBALL

Izzo pleased with unselfishness of team

Through the first weeks of practice, one thing really stands out to MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo: his team’s unselfishness. But that unselfishness comes at a strange time, when most of the players haven’t played together all that long, Izzo said. “The neat thing is we’ve had years where we’re selfish — the ball never moved,” Izzo said.